The Wrong Good Deed by the author of The Face on the Milk Carton

Title: The Wrong Good Deed
Author: Caroline Cooney
Publication: Poisoned Pen Press, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Mystery/Series
Setting: South Carolina

Description: Clemmie, previously encountered in Before She Was Helen, is at church with her friend Muffin when Muffin sees someone from her past and, terrified, insists on leaving at once. Clemmie herself has dark secrets so she does not want to get involved in anyone else’s problems. In addition, she assumes Muffin is overreacting even after she hears why Muffin precipitously left her first husband in 1964. Yet soon it becomes clear that Clemmie and Muffin are not the only residents of Sun City Retirement Community with something to hide and Clemmie’s “good deed” after church was a bad mistake, putting both women in danger.

My Impression: As anyone who read The Face on the Milk Carton can attest, Cooney is gifted at combining an everyday setting with menacing twists and surprises. Clemmie has been leading a double life for many years and even the reason for her retirement to South Carolina is part of her secret, which was revealed in the first book. In addition to teaching Latin at a local high school, she fills her days with activities and is incapable of saying no to any resident of Sun City, whether they need a ride to visit someone in Memory Care or cookies for a funeral. Here, it is Clemmie’s and Muffin’s good deeds that cause trouble and even danger, when it comes, is mingled with Cooney’s sardonic description of life in a relatively affluent retirement community:

When Clemmie was finally home, all needy neighbors accounted for, she sank into her sofa’s warm embrace. Could she summon the strength to fix herself dinner, or should she just have toast?

The doorbell rang.

She looked at her watch. Six o’clock on Sunday evening. Who could this be? She hauled herself up, opened her front door, and in trooped Virgie, Muffin, Marge, Phyllis, Fran, and Barbara Ann.

“You forgot, Helen,” Fran accused her. “You’re hosting Bible study this week.”

The girls arranged themselves in her living room. Fran sat on the carpet, crossing her legs like the yoga instructor she was, demonstrating that she was a hundred times more flexible and healthier than anybody else except Muffin. Muffin usually tried to one-up Fran, but tonight she drooped in an armchair, exuding tragedy.

Muffin is convinced she is in danger due to something she witnessed in 1964; her story is interesting but the reader cares more about Clemmie, whose secret past seems to be frighteningly catching up with her. While this book could be read independently, it would be better to start with Before She Was Helen, and I think those who enjoy The Thursday Murder Club books will also like this series; Cooney is equally amusing although darker.

This is my fifteenth book for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.

Source: Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for this read.